


Not In Silence

by journaliry



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Bedridden Rose Lalonde, Didn't Know They Were Dating, M/M, Married Rose Lalonde/Kanaya Maryam, More tags to be added, The Homestuck Epilogues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-11
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:49:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26404504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journaliry/pseuds/journaliry
Summary: Jake and Dave hardly spoke to one another, even during the game, and yet their paths constantly keep crossing over the course of a few short weeks. Jake's quick to fall for Dave and without even knowing it, Dave somehow finds himself dating Jake without any recollection of Jake even confessing his deep seeded feelings.
Relationships: Jake English/ Dirk Strider (past), Jake English/Dave Strider, John Egbert/ Dave Strider (Unrequited)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	1. at the start

It’s been silent for a few hours now. You sniff your nose. You rub your face with the back of your hand, as you swipe at your face, the sunglasses you got from Egbert ages ago bump up against the back of your wrist.

You just decided to pay Rose another visit but you lost track of time again. You usually pay more attention to the time when you're here, guess you just got used to your visits. You’re sitting down in her living room in a love seat next to the sofa. Rose is laying down on the couch right next to you. Kanaya’s somewhere else in the house, making phone calls. Rose looks like she’s got another headache. You feel pretty damn bad for her, she’s drenched in sweat and can hardly move. First visit you had once you found out she was this ill, you offered Rose some help and asked if there was anything you could do. She said _“there’s nothing to be done”_ in that sophisticated, sarcastic, snarky, bitchy tone she always uses… but you can see through that mask. _She’s afraid._

You put down your phone for a moment. Just to stare at her. Rose’s light blonde bangs are sticking to her face. She looks like she’s drained of all life and hanging on by a thread. She finds the strength to turn her head. She must feel your eyes on her. 

Rose looks at you, you look back into her eyes. Something about it reminds you of when you were standing next to The Tumor waiting for... You don’t want to remember that and that isn’t a memory you want Rose to recall either, you choose to do something different. For her sake. You pay her a weak smile. She smiles meekly back.

. . .

You spent a few more moments looking at your phone. Just scrolling through your timeline and occasionally relying messages that your friends wanted to tell Rose about. Seems like she can’t fully keep all of her memories straight, she mentioned something about Roxy that didn’t seem right to you. When you corrected Rose that Roxy wasn’t seeing Jake. Rose went quiet. You made some joke about how Roxy doesn’t seem like the kind of person that would date Jake when Dirk still isn’t fully over him yet. Rose laughed and told you, “well… doesn’t work out well for them in the end anyway and both of them would come to me with their woes. Glad it’s not me living that timeline… at least not… any longer.” Even though she’s smiling, you still feel so miserable for Rose. Probably why she doesn’t get that many visitors. John doesn’t seem like he’s in any state to cheer anyone up and Jade’s living life like a wild child so not like they’re gonna be of much help making Rose feel, at least a bit more, at peace.

Rose muttered something about someone being at the door. Not a second later, the doorbell rang. You were going to get up to get it, but you could hear a desk chair get pushed back on it’s wheels and a few heels clicking against the title floors in the hallway. You guess Kanaya is showing whoever it is in.

Doesn’t take long for Kanaya to walk in with her house guest at her side. It was Jake with a large bundle of violet roses already in a vase. Kanaya decided to leave the three of you alone so she could return to taking calls for her work. She placed a kiss to Rose’s forehead, then she waved at you and Jake as she took her leave.

You stared right at Jake. Tall, muscular, tan. Whenever you see him in posters and billboards he always has a huge grin on his face... but today he wore a gentle smile. Jake placed the vase on the table and knelt down besides Rose. He placed his hand on top of one of hers and softly said “hello there, Rose. I know you’re tired, but I just thought I’d drop by and pay you a short visit.”

Rose gave him a weak smile. “Thank you, Jake. I always love your visits.”

Jake rubs Rose's hand lightly as he speaks, “sorry they are always brief, but I figured you'd prefer solitude.” 

Rose nods in response, “that’s why I prefer your visits over most... just don’t tell anyone I confined that to you.”

“Ha.” Jake gave her a smile and let out a short chuckle. “Well, you know... usually I feel guilty about leaving so soon after saying hello, but seeing Strider here, I’m sure that I’m leaving you in good company.”

Rose gave Jake an even greater smile, as weak as it was.

Jake moves away from Rose's hand and straightens out his back. “I’m going to take my leave now, you need your rest. If you ever need me for anything, anything at all, just ask your wife to pay me a call."

Rose gently raises up her hand, it looked like she was slightly strained to do so. She gently gave her hand over to Jake and he took her palm to plant a kiss the back of her hand. Jake places Rose's hand back down for her, slowly and gently.

Jake then decided it was best to walk over to you, he places his hand on your shoulder, “thank you for visiting, Rose.”

“No prob, I come here all the time round this hour.” You whisper. 

“Really now?” Jake gently asked. “that is quite kind of you to visit Rose so often.”

“I like the quiet.” You confess.

“Right.” Jake nods and says in a hushed tone, “I’ll get out of your hair, you know my offer stands for you as well. Call me if you ever need me.”

“Thanks, man.” You whisper back.

Jake pats your shoulder and walks out. Seems like he’s heading for where Kanaya is so he can say his goodbyes to her as well. You turn your attention back to your phone. You smile softly down at the screen and get back to scrolling. This is about the third time today you got an advert that featured Jake's bright, happy grin. Something about that smile of his fills you with a warm gentle feeling. You absentmindedly tap on the screen with your thumb and save the photo to your phone. 


	2. In the rain with you

Everyday is always the same. Workflow is nonstop as well. It's rare you get a moment alone, so you keep most of your downtime for yourself. But lately, that's changed. After you heard that Rose's condition has been getting worse from her wife months ago, you made sure to visit Rose with small gifts just to let her know that she's in your thoughts. You do so every day you find the time to make the trip to her home. You feel horrible that you can do nothing more than bring her little doodads. Poor thing always tells you that she's fine and she takes medication, but Rose was drenched in sweat your last visit. At least Dave was there to keep her company. 

Maybe you should pay some of your other friends a visit as well, but you're not interested in going out for a full day. You're sure that if you tell them you have things to do they'll buy it, still feels like a tricky thing to do, lie like that you mean.

It’s pouring outside. Perfect timing for a walk, next to no one is going to be out. 

Today is your first full day off in what feels like ages. Probably because it's been months. You do enjoy living in the limelight, but modeling and acting and hosting horrid reality tv shows is starting to get a tad bit stale. At least you have something to keep you busy, always gotta keep that in mind, and that points never been more apparent than now. You have bullocks to do right now. You're alone in your mansion again, nothing but knight armor and bullet holes in the walls to keep you company in this room. Best to leave and start wandering the halls now. Maybe on the walk over to your wardrobe you can think of someone to visit. 

You pace down the hallway in your robe and crimson colored slippers. It was a gift you got from one of your old co-hosts on a talking show you spent a season on. Of course you had to leave the cast when you started fooling around with her. You know you outta keep your private and your work life separate, you've been trying your best to do that lately. It's exactly the sort of thing Dirk warned you about when you started recording that damn show with him.

Maybe you should pay Dirk a casual visi- No. Definitely not.

You kill that thought dead in its tracks and stop it there. You can visit him. Not now anyway. You're still not on good terms with Dirk. You thought that you two made up a bit after you won the game, but last time you spoke to Dirk, he made it clear that wasn't the case. Said something about you driving him up and over the Goddamn wall and then he out right quit the show. You didn't know what you did to upset him, other than maybe exist. Maybe you're not good enough to keep up with him. _'He always was a perfectionist.'_

You sigh. Roxy and Jane seem to have lost interest in hearing from you as well. Jane seems busy with her own thing and Roxy is attached to Calliope's hip nowadays and when you call any of them, they seem like they dread hearing from you. Probably because most of your conversations end up somehow gravitating around Dirk. You don't want to subject them to that. You always drag people into your thoughts and fussed up feelings. 

You want to still be Dirk’s friend. You want to find the right way to apologize to him, but you’re starting to feel like Dirk’s more frustrated with himself than you. You hope he still doesn’t have any unresolved _feelings_ for you.

. . .

You sigh. You just got done gifting Rose a small box of bonbons, you’re not sure if she cares to partake in snacking on the damn things, but she looked so happy to receive your gift, her wife though seemed devastated that the bag you brought was dripping with rain water on to her Persian rug. You laugh at the thought. Rose must have found it funny too. She smiled with eyes shut tighter than your freaking rain jacket’s sleeves. You guess you over did it on the workout routines recently, your manager told you to stay in shape Incase another roll asked you to buff up, but you guess you over did it.

You keep walking on through the rain, ignoring how drenched your pants are. You know a place around here that’s so covered in trees That hardly anyone else knows there’s a small stone staircase leading to a nice wooden bench over looking the lake. Since the rain is letting up, you want to go see the view. 

Right as you pass by the beaches of the trees, you step down the stone steps that swirl and make you turn towards... ‘ _oh great.’_ The _occupied_ bench. 

"Oh.” Someone holding a red umbrella turns to face you. “Hey, man." You recognize that voice. 

"Strider?" Your eyes slightly widen as you tilt your head and your body to get a better look at the man on the bench. "Didn't expect to see you here, Dave."

"Yeah well... needed some fresh air."

Dave mutters under his breath, "whole damn couch smells like dog."

You sit down besides Dave at the edge of the bench and smile at him. 

He's sporting his favorite colors. Red, red and more red. Red jacket and a red shirt with a big red umbrella. It's honestly kind of cute how he always wears colors that match his eyes, not that you've ever seen them. You've only heard rumors that his eyes are like two perfectly red disks. There's something mysterious about only hearing what he looks like without his shades and not knowing first hand. So many things about Dave you don't know about first hand actually, you only really hear your mutual friends discuss how Strider makes strange rap tapes and randomly forces people to listen to them and how he subjects people to hearing his rants on a different array of topics. How no rapper on Earth C can replicate how good rap sounds on his version of Earth, how there's no interesting satire in your new world, Dave talks about which paper cup ramen is the spiciest on the market and how that isn't even spicy to him and also how he's never seen a musical that he likes, but he's trying so desperately to find one to seem _cultured._ Most of all, Rose warns you not to get Dave started on the economy, apparently he honestly knows nothing about economics but still pride's himself to be an expert on the subject. Something about that seems childish, but still charming to you in a strange way. You'd love to get closer to him and hear what all the hype is about. He already seems so kind. Staying with Rose when so many others can't bring themselves to even look at her current state. Dave seems so compassionate, he must have just visited her too, Rose seemed so peaceful when you last saw her even though her wife was away most of the day and got home once you got to her doorstep. Dave must have entertained Rose in his own charming, calming way.

Dave looks so incicing too. Everything about him is interesting. His face is covered in little freckles and he rarely ever smiles, still you can recall seeing glimpses of his teeth showing last time you all got together for one of John's birthdays in Egbert's secluded little home. Dave seems so close to John, in the way you wish you still were with Dirk. It's so nice to see two best friends stick together, through thick and thin. From what you hear, John's been having a rough time with things. Something about losing his dad and playing a game that killed everyone on his verion of Earth -suppose the guilt of that would kill you too if you didn't have the Condence to blame for running your world into the ground and then flooding it- and still, Dave finds the time to console John.

Dave's so good to all his close friends. Make you envious you don't have what the kid's from the beta universe had with the rag tag group you feel into. Maybe because they have someone as sweet as Dave going from memeber to memeber and cheering them up with his calming precence. What a gift that would be, to have someone like Dave just... around.

Dave seems so nice to just be near, even in complete silence. He's stikingly handsome too. He's tall, maybe a few inches shorter than you and you're over six feet. Dave's hair is white like freshly fallen snow, there's something so delicate about it's color. You feel drawn to feel his short locks just to see if they are as soft as they look. However, you know better than to invade his space. It's best to just sit down at the other end of the bench and keep your distance from him, till it at least feels more appropriate to inch a bit... closer. Oh drat! You're doing it already.

He's looking down at your hand and then back up at you. Dave's probably werided out by how you randomly started leaning into him without warning. That or he's werided out that you've been smiling at him for three straight minuets without saying a single word. You speak up before you make things any more akward. "Oh! I'm sorry, I tend to get lost in my own thoughts."

"No worries, man." Dave shrugs, "same here."

You continue to stare at Dave, waiting to see if he has anything to say.

Nope. Well uh... you bet you can think of something good to talk about.

"So... uh... what have you been up to nowadays?" Nailed it, people love talking about themselves.

"Nothing." Dave turns his head back to the lake.

"Oh? Really nothing at all?" You feel a bit of confusion and a touch of shock. "Honestly?" 

"Chilling?" Dave shrugs.

So Dave really doesn’t care much for talking about himself... you better prod him to say something. "Didn't you say something about a dog? I didn't know that you adopted a pup-"

"Ha." Dave lets out a dry laugh. "I was talking about Jade, man. She's been crashing at my place lately."

You’re slow to blip out, "oh."

"Yeah.” Dave goes on, “wouldn't mind it if she found like a place to put her bras other than my usual fuckin' spot. But even with that, it's cool to have her around, you know?"

"Oh I understand you completely!” You happily nod. “Bet it would be nice to have a visitor staying in my place. Course the damn place is so large, even if I had an occasional roommate spending the night on one of my couches, I'm sure I wouldn't even notice that they were there." You might actually enjoy that, you love having time to yourself but the idea of someone else in your home would make you feel a slight bit less like a lonely loner.

"Yeah, well... She only hangs around so often and the place is more like Karkat's then mine, he does like all the house chores."

"Oh... so you live with Vantas. I was... not aware." Something about that depresses you. You were... hoping to hear that Dave was single as well... you’re not sure why, maybe because you don't want to feel alone in being alone right now? Who knows?

“So... is Vantas good to you?” Surely he has to be, to have such a caring person as a lover.

"Nah, what? What the fuck? Why does everyone think we're dating?" Dave shakes his head and then lifts up his hand. "We're just roommate _'_ s all."

"Oh!" You didn't mean to sound so excited. You also didn't mean to give away your excitement, but it's too late to down play it now. Might as well ask, "so you're single!?"

"Why you asking?" Dave can hear an ulterior motive in your voice.

"Because I've been seaking out someone else with spare time to _hang out_ with and you’re so pleasant to be around!” You cheerfully explain. “I’ve been so lonely for the past few weeks, all I do is work with people that know me more for my IMDB page than know me for my actual interests. I’d like a real friend at the moment, and one preferably alone and lonely too- Uh- not imply anything.”

Dave nods once. “Nah man, you’re right. I’m like... miserable right now.”

Dave holds onto his umbrella with both his delicate hands as he shuts his eyes, "guess it'd be nice to feel like solidarity in being single and like... not proud."

"Right!?" You smile.

"Yeah, my roommate is like way too content being like alone and it kinda makes me feel ever more like shit for feeling like shit, you know, man?"

"I know, _man_." You nod and joke. 

Dave's nose schruches up as he laughs.

You feel something spark in you. 

You blankly stare at him as the skin around his nose crinkles up. 

He has that kind of smile. He has that kind of laugh. He has that kind of everything.

Dave sniffs his nose and rubs it with the sleeve. _‘How cute!?’_

Dave sniffs again and sighs. “I gotta get some shopping done before the rain let’s up, I don’t wanna run into people on the street, you know how it is.” You feel your heart sink, it looks like Dave’s leaving soon. Dave turns towards you and says, “catch you later. I’ll text you when I get back to my place, k?”

Dave’s colorless bangs begin to catch wind, he bundles up a bit more in his jacket. You want to pull him close and warm him up. You want to grip onto him tight and hold him close as you embrace him with both your arms and your lips. You want to have him close. You want that in this moment... more than anything. 

Dave sits up and you can see him shiver as he gets to his feet. You stand up with him. You strip off your coat and hold up it. You grew up on a tropical island so of course you're fucking freezing your ass off in the rain, but you'll be damned if Dave goes another second shaking. You hold it up for him to wear and mindlessly tell him, "here, put this on."

"Uh... don't you need that, man?" Daves still holding onto his umbrella. Scooping out your almost bare chest as your tank gets soaked in the rain. 

"I'm more than fine!" You lie. 

"Really... cause you look a bit cold." Dave leans a bit forward with a face like he’s about to wince. 

"Maybe a touch cold from how brisk it is out here, but nothing more than that. Go on." You hold out the jacket a bit further and offer again, "I'll help you put it on."

Dave places his umbrella down on the bench and turns away from you. You help each of his arms into the sellers as quickly -but also as gently- as possible.

You hold onto his shoulders and smile to your self as you free one hand to put up the hoodie so his hair doesn’t get wet from the rain. Dave turns around and you let your hands fall from his head and his shoulder, then instinctively you grab his hands and confess, “you look adorable when your clothes are too big for you! Just like spotting a puppy in a pot.” 

Dave gives you an adorably confused look on his adorable face. “uhhhhh... thanks?” 

“I’m sure you get that a lot though!” You smile and place two fists on your hips, beaming with joy as your entire body gets soaked from the rain.

“Not... really?” Dave stops and asks, “are you okay?”

“Never better!” You nod.

Dave nods once. “cool.”

Dave turns towards his old umbrella, “you could use this cause...” Dave gestures to his face and then your body, “you know.”

You lightly gasp and smile as you take the umbrella from his hands. He’s so kind! “Thank you!”

“No prob.” Dave’s wearing your forest green jacket with the hood covering up almost everything other than his glasses. He says his goodbyes and you watch him walk off, you give him a wave even though he's not looking. He tosses up a peace sign and then pockets his hand into your old jacket's pocket.

Once he's out of sight you sit back down on the bench.

Suddenly it dawns on you.

Just how that whole exchange went.

_‘that entire thing was...’_

You feel like screaming. So you do, 

"That was so romantic!!!"


End file.
